Itch.io deletes 'a couple terabytes of AI slop' and adds a No AI search filter

Indie storefront itch.io has started clearing out low-effort AI content. "Just deleted a couple terabytes of ai slop," the company posted on X on Tuesday, as reported by Dot Esports. In a follow-up it added that "just because you can upload 10 terabytes of poorly optimized AI generated models doesn't mean you should", pointing to the AI spam clause that has been in its quality guidelines for over two years.

Why now

Itch.io lets anyone upload a game for free with almost no curation. According to its own chart, new game pages per day roughly doubled from about 3,000 in early August to more than 6,000 by late October, while downloads and purchases did not grow at the same pace. The company didn't directly blame generative AI, but answered questions about it with tired and robot emojis.

The new No AI filter

Itch.io is adding generative-AI disclosure filtering "to few more places on the site where it was critically lacking", including the search results page. Choosing the No AI tag shows only pages whose creators stated they don't use generative AI.

There's a catch: the filter also hides pages whose creators never answered the disclosure question. Dot Esports found it cut the newest games from over 1.77 million to around 432,000, while only about 132,000 carry the AI Generated tag — so most of the hidden pages simply skipped the form.

What else changes

• AI disclosure, already required for asset pages and encouraged for games, now extends to tabletop games, soundtracks, books and comics. Creators must complete it when creating or editing pages.
• Itch.io says this is not a blanket ban: AI-assisted work remains allowed, but mass-produced, auto-generated pages count as spam.

The company hasn't said how many pages were removed or how it detects undisclosed AI use. Steam, which has required AI disclosures since January 2024, faces a similar flood of AI-made releases.